The words Pencak and Silat have the same meanings and are integral parts of the culture of the Malay ethnic group, who are the native inhabitants in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

Pencak is commonly used by the people in Java, Madura and Bali, whereas the word Silat is commonly used by the people who live in the other regions of Indonesia as well as in the other Malay regions.

The combination of the words Pencak and Silat into a compound word was made for the first time when an organization uniting all Pencak and Silat perguruans (institutions) in Indonesia was founded in Surakarta on 18 May 1948.

This organization was named Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia (Indonesian Pencak Silat Association), abbreviated as IPSI.  Since then, the word Pencak Silat has become the official term in Indonesia.  This term is also used by the perguruans in many different countries which teach Pencak and Silat derived from Indonesia.

In the international Pencak Silat communities the word Pencak Silat has become the official term since the international federation organization was founded in Jakarta on March 11, 1980. The organization is called Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antarbangsa (International Pencak Silat Federation), acronymed as PERSILAT.  Nevertheless, there are people who use the words Pencak and Silat separately as a single word due to the dialectic habit.

[Source: The Treasury of Pencak Silat by Notosoejitno, 1997]